On Intercession Parents' Saturday, on the eve of the Feast of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it is customary in the Orthodox world to remember the dead.
It must be said that Intercession Parental Saturday — is not a universal tradition, it is celebrated only in a few regions of Russia, since it is associated with the commemoration of the « dead soldiers who laid down their lives for the faith and the Fatherland near Kazan» during the conquest of Kazan by Ivan IV the Terrible in 1552. During those events, many people died, which is why a special locally revered commemoration of the deceased was established in a number of Dioceses — of Kazan, Vyatka, Yekaterinburg and Izhevsk, first as a memory of the Orthodox soldiers who died during the capture of Kazan.
Initially, this parental Saturday was established in the 16th century — in 1592, Saint Hermogenes, who at that time was the Archbishop of Kazan and Astrakhan, sent a letter to Patriarch Job in which he asked to establish a certain day of remembrance and a special commemoration of Orthodox soldiers who laid down their lives for the faith and Fatherland near Kazan. And with the blessing of the Patriarch, a special memorial day for all the victims was established on this occasion — Intercession Parents' Saturday.
Subsequently, Orthodox Christians on this day began to create the memory of not only the Orthodox soldiers killed during the capture of Kazan, but together with them all their deceased relatives and friends. This tradition has been preserved today – on the eve of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary, on the Saturday closest to the holiday to remember the dead, visit churches and cemeteries.
Funeral services and memorial services are held in all churches of the Dioceses in the regions where this day is celebrated. Believers are advised to go to the cemetery after visiting the temple and praying to calm the souls of the deceased.